Interchangeable Garment

ABSTRACT

A garment constructed so that parts of the garment are detachable and interchangeable. For a pair of pants, the top portion of the garment is made of a pair of shorts, Capri pants, gauchos, or pants. A fastener is attached to each pants leg, either at the hem or some inches above the hem. The fastener can be exposed or covered by fabric. Extenders, which may be made of any kind of fabric and in a variety of shapes (i.e., bell bottoms, flares or straight), attach to the fastener of the garment, changing the appearance and style of the garment by adding length, various trims such as fur or leather, or various colors, textures and/or patterns to the existing fabrics. For example, a pair of shorts could be converted into Capri or full length pants or simply be given a trim.

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a nonprovisional application which claims benefit of co-pending U.S. Patent Application Ser. No. 60/766,496 filed Jan. 23, 2006, entitled “Interchangeable bottoms for pants, jackets, shirts and skirts” which is hereby incorporated by reference.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

Not Applicable

REFERENCE TO SEQUENCE LISTING OR COMPUTER PROGRAM LISTING APPENDIX

Not Applicable

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to clothing. More particularly, this invention pertains to a garment that allows the wearer to alter the design, length and appearance of the garment.

The fashion industry is a $335 billion dollar per year industry in the U.S. Fashion trends change quickly and it is difficult and expensive to stay current. A garment that is flexible in that it can be worn many different ways is always desirable as it allows the wearer to change their look without having continually to purchase new garments.

Additionally, an easily alterable garment is also desirable for performers, who must make quick costume changes during a performance.

It is also desirable to have a garment that can be altered to accommodate the growth of the wearer. For example, lengthening a pair of pants as a child gets taller. Such a garment would save money in that many times, new clothes must be purchased to accommodate a child's growth even though the old garment is still in good shape.

What is needed, then, is a garment that can be easily and quickly altered to take on numerous different looks.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In the present invention, a garment is provided that can be altered to include different lengths, fabrics, textures, colors, trims and patterns by adding extensions to a base garment. The garment is constructed so that parts of the garment are detachable and interchangeable. In one embodiment, the top portion of the garment is made of a pair of shorts, Capri pants, gauchos, or pants. A fastener is attached to each pants leg, either at the hem or some inches above the hem. The fastener can be exposed or covered by fabric. The extenders, which may be made of any kind of fabric and in a variety of shapes (i.e., bell bottoms, flares or straight), are made to be attached to the fastener of the garment, changing the appearance and style of the garment by adding length, various trims such as fur or leather, or various colors, textures and/or patterns to the existing fabrics. For example, a pair of shorts could be converted into Capri or full length pants or simply be given a trim.

The invention may also be embodied in a skirt to which extenders may be added to alter the length and appearance of the skirt. Furthermore, the invention can also be embodied in a jacket wherein extenders can be added to a vest or the existing sleeves. Alternatively, an extender could be added to the bottom of a jacket to extend its length and/or provide a different look.

More specifically, with respect to the pants of the present invention, the pants can be described as an outer garment for the lower part of the body, having individual leg portions that reach to any of various other points from the upper leg down. For example, the pants may reach down to the midpoint of the thigh or to just below the knee. The pants may be constructed of any material typically used for pants.

At the end of each leg of the pants, there is placed at least one fastener. Preferably this fastener is a zipper although it could be any of various fasteners known to one skilled in the art including snaps, Velcro®, buttons or hooks. Although the pants may have only one fastener on each leg, it is contemplated that there could be multiple fasteners on each leg. The fastener may be exposed or concealed by fabric.

The fastener at the end of the pants leg cooperates with a fastener on the top side of an accessory portion, or extender, of the invention. The accessory portion is designed to be an extension of the garment, in this case, the leg of the trousers. The accessory portion could be an infinite number of lengths and could be constructed from many different fabrics, i.e., denim, leather, fur or cotton in unlimited patterns, textures and colors.

A convertible garment is disclosed having a base portion with a lower hem, a base fastener attached to the lower hem, and at least one accessory portion having a top hem to which is attached an accessory fastener which is cooperatively sized and compatible with the base fastener such that the accessory portion can be removably attached to the base portion to alter the garment, both in appearance and size.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a means of altering a garment to have multiple different styles and lengths.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a quick way of changing a garment, for example in a performance setting.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a garment that change be altered to accommodate the wearer's growth.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the base garment without extenders.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the garment with a single pair of extenders.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the garment with two pairs of extenders.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the garment with a single pair of extenders.

FIG. 5 is a view of the base garment having two fasteners on each pants leg.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of three long extenders.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of two short extenders.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring now to FIG. 1, a garment or base portion 10, specifically a pair of pants or trousers, is shown. As shown here, the pants do not reach all the way down the wearer's legs to the ankles. For purposes of this invention, the pants may be made of any material, e.g., denim, leather, etc. and may have legs of varying lengths, i.e., the pants may be shorts, Capris or gauchos. The legs of the pants (or leg portions) are designated as 12 and the bottom or lower hem of the pants legs 12 are designated as 14.

FIG. 2 shows the pants 10 having an extender or accessory portion 20 attached to each leg of the pants. The top hem of extender 20 attaches to the pants 10 at the lower portion of the legs 12, either at the lower hem or at a location above the lower hem. As shown in FIG. 2, the extenders 20 extend the length of the pants to make them full length.

FIG. 3 shows the pants 10 having a first pair of extenders 20 attached one to each leg 12 and a second pair of extenders 22 attached one to each leg of the pants 10.

FIG. 4 shows the pants 10 having first extenders 22 attached one to each leg of the pants. Note that as illustrated in this figure, the addition of the extenders lengthens the pants 10 but does not make them full length.

Referring to FIG. 6, three different possible extenders 20 are shown. It is envisioned that an endless number of extenders could be paired with a single pair of pants, in any number of lengths, fabrics, textures and patterns to form an unlimited number of different looks all beginning with the same pair of pants. The extenders can be made in a variety of shapes including bell bottoms, rings, straight cylinders or flares.

Referring to FIG. 7, two extenders 22 are shown which are shorter in length than those illustrated in FIG. 6. It is contemplated that the extenders may be of any length with the shorter extenders adding an accent trim to the bottom of the pants legs to provide additional variety.

Regardless of the length of the extenders, each extender has an accessory fastener or extender fastener 24 attached to the top edge of the extender, such that the accessory fastener 24 of extender 20, 22 cooperatively and removably attaches to the base fastener or leg fastener 16 on the pants legs 12. Although a zipper is the preferred fastener, other fastener such as snaps, buttons, Velcro® or hooks can be utilized. The extender can be any length that will work with pants to fit the wearer.

Pants 10 have attached at least one base fastener 16 on each pant leg 12. The base fastener 16 may be any fastening means which can removably attach an extender 20, 22 to the pants. Preferably, base fastener 16 is a zipper. Use of a zipper provides several advantages including easy and quick attachment and makes it less likely that the extender will be pulled off, for example if the wearer steps on the bottom of the attachment.

The zipper may be located at the bottom hem of the pant leg or it may be located higher up on the pant leg as desired.

While the pants may be worn without any extender, the addition of an extender to each leg alters the pants be increasing the length of the pants legs to any desired length as well as changing the appearance of the pants by adding different fabrics, textures, colors and/or patterns to create a new look.

In an alternate embodiment, the pants 10 have more than one base fastener 16, or zipper, per leg. As shown in FIG. 5, the pants may have two zippers 16 per leg. The zippers 16 may be spaced apart in any desired length. With the multiple zipper design, even more variations of the look of the pants are possible. A single extender may be attached to the upper or lower zipper or multiple extensions may be worn at the same time, as shown in FIG. 3. There, a short extender 22 is attached to the upper zipper and a longer extender is attached to the lower zipper. It is contemplated that a wearer could choose to wear short extenders on both zippers or long extenders on both zippers. Further, the wearer might choose to wear an extender only to the lower zipper, leaving the upper zipper exposed or add an extender to the upper zipper only, hiding the lower zipper from view.

It is further contemplated that a garment could have any number of fasteners and thus attach numerous different extenders at the same time for maximum options.

A further use for the multiple fastener embodiment would be the ability to accommodate growth of the wearer. As a child grows, the same extension could be attached to a lower fastener thus extending the life of the garment. There would be no need to buy a new attachment as the attachment size is the same for each fastener on any given garment.

In a preferred embodiment using zippers as the fastener, by arranging the zippers in a particular manner, a pair of extenders can be zipped to one another for storage for additional convenience. Commonly, a zipper is comprised of two toothed tracks each bordering one of two edges to be joined and a slide that either interlocks or separates them when pulled. In this preferred embodiment, the track of a zipper with the slide is attached to one leg of the pants. On the other leg, the track of the zipper without the slide is attached. Likewise, on the two matching extenders, one has the track of a zipper with the slide and the other extender has the track of a zipper without a slide. This allows the two extenders to be zipped together when not in use.

Thus, although there have been described particular embodiments of the present invention of a new and useful “Interchangeable Garment”, it is not intended that such references be construed as limitations upon the scope of this invention except as set forth in the following claims. 

1. A convertible garment comprising: a base portion having a lower hem; a base fastener attached to the lower hem; and an accessory portion having a top hem to which is attached an accessory fastener which is cooperatively compatible with the base fastener such that the accessory portion can be removably attached to the base portion.
 2. The garment according to claim 1 further comprising: a second base fastener attached to the base portion; and a second accessory portion removably attached to the second base fastener.
 3. An interchangeable garment comprising: a pair of pants having two leg portions, each leg portion having a hem; a plurality of leg fasteners, each leg fastener attached to one of the hems; at least one extender having a top edge; a plurality of extender fasteners, each extender fastener attached to the top edge of one of the extenders; wherein each extender fastener cooperates with one leg fastener to removably attach the extenders to the leg portions.
 4. The garment according to claim 3 wherein the fasteners are zippers wherein each zipper has two toothed tracks and a slide that interlocks and separates the tracks.
 5. The garment according to claim 4 wherein the at least one extender comprises a first extender and a second extender.
 6. The garment according to claim 5 wherein one leg portion has attached the track of the zipper with the slide and the other leg portion has attached the track of the zipper without the slide; and the first extender has attached the track of the zipper with the slide and the second extender has attached the track of the zipper without the slide; wherein the extenders can be detached from the leg portions and attached to each other.
 7. An interchangeable garment comprising: a pair of pants having two leg portions; a plurality of leg fasteners attached to each leg portion; a plurality of extenders each having a top edge; a plurality of extender fasteners, each extender fastener attached to the top edge of one of the extenders; wherein the extender fasteners cooperate with the leg fasteners to removably attach the extenders to the pants.
 8. The garment according to claim 7 wherein the number of extenders is equal to the number of leg fasteners.
 9. The garment according to claim 7 wherein the number of extenders is less than the number of leg fasteners.
 10. The garment according to claim 7 wherein the leg fasteners and extenders fasteners are zippers wherein each zipper has two toothed tracks and a slide that interlocks and separates the tracks.
 11. The garment according to claim 10 wherein one leg portion has attached the track of the zipper with the slide and the other leg portion has attached the track of the zipper without the slide; and a first extender has attached the track of the zipper with the slide and a second extender has attached the track of the zipper without the slide; wherein the extenders can be detached from the leg portions and attached to each other. 